Naira Stabilises at N1,366/$1 at Official Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira was relatively stable against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, July 30, after declining for three straight sessions.

Yesterday, it depreciated by 3 Kobo against the greenback in the official market to sell for N1,366.73/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,366.71/$1.

It also depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market segment during the session by N18.47 to quote at N1,834.29/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,815.82/£1, and lost N17.65 on the Euro to close at N1,572.97/€1, in contrast to Wednesday’s closing rate of N1,555.32/€1.

At the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the US Dollar on Thursday at N1,400/$1, and also at the GTBank forex desk, it traded flat at N1,370/$1.

The Nigerian currency witnessed a slight pressure yesterday, as demand for FX by financial institutions impacted the trajectory of the local currency, with some unable to clear their bids.

The interbank FX turnover fell below the previous day’s record, settling at $58.423 million, representing more than a 4.2 per cent decline from $61.034 million reported the previous day.

Also, the number of deals executed by financial institutions acting as market makers at the NFEM window fell by 71, from 86 previously recorded.

The latest update from the CBN showed that Nigeria’s foreign reserves declined further, settling at $51.922 billion from $51.938 billion the previous day.

Meanwhile, major cryptocurrencies rebounded following a powerful rebound in global equity and chip stocks, as investors saw a boost in the Asian market as South Korea’s Kospi index surged as much as 17 per cent, led by big gains in Samsung, SK Hynix and Taiwan Semiconductor after a sharp two-week selloff.

In the US, there was the largest rally in chip stocks in more than a year, with the Nasdaq 100 snapping a six-day losing streak. Amazon rose nearly 10 per cent after hours on strong cloud earnings, while Apple fell 6 per cent as supply shortages hit its sales forecast.

Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 4.1 per cent to $0.1691, Binance Coin (BNB) grew by 3.4 per cent to $591.74, Solana (SOL) jumped by 1.1 per cent to $74.34, Ripple (XRP) rose by 0.8 per cent to $1.08, and Bitcoin (BTC) added 0.7 per cent to sell at $64,432.11.

Further, TRON (TRX) improved by 0.6 per cent to $0.3284, Dogecoin (DOGE) soared by 0.5 per cent to $0.0712, and Ethereum (ETH) climbed 0.3 to $1,907.80, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.